Frances Borzello Book order

"The representation of the nude in art remained for many centuries a victory of fiction over fact. Beautiful, handsome, flawless - its great success was to distance the unclothed body from any uncomfortably explicit taint of sexuality, eroticism or imperfection. In this newly updated study, Frances Borzello contrasts the civilized, sanitized, perfected nude of Kenneth Clark's classic, The Nude: A Study in Ideal Form (1956), with today's depictions: raw, uncomfortable, both disturbing and intriguing. Grittier and more subtle, depicting variously gendered bodies, the new nude asks awkward questions and behaves provocatively. It is a very naked nude, created to deal with the issues and contradictions that surround the body in our time.Borzello explores the role of the nude in twentieth- and twenty-first-century art, looking at the work of a wide range of international artists creating contemporary nudes. Her fascinating text is complemented by a profusion of well-chosen, unusual and beautifully reproduced illustrations. The story begins with a tale of life, death and resurrection - an investigation into how and why the nude has survived and flourished in an art world that prematurely announced its demise. Subsequent chapters take a thematic approach, focusing in turn on Body art and Performance art, the new perspectives of women artists, the nude in painting, portraiture and sculpture and in its most extreme and graphic expressions that intentionally push the boundaries of both art and our comfort zone. The final chapter illustrates radical developments in art and culture over the last decade, focusing in particular on artworks by women, trans artists and artists of colour. Borzello links these works to their art-historical and political predecessors, demonstrating the continually unending capacity of the nude to disrupt traditional hierarchies and gender categories in life and art."-- Provided by publisher

This richly diverse exploration of female artists and self-portraits is a brilliant and poignant demonstration of originality in works of haunting variety. The two earliest self-portraits come from 12th-century illuminated manuscripts in which nuns gaze at us across eight centuries. In 16th-century Italy, Sofonisba Anguissola paints one of the longest series of self-portraits, spanning adolescence to old age. In 17th-century Holland, Judith Leyster shows herself at the easel as a relaxed, self-assured professional. In the 18th century, artists from Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun to Angelica Kauffman express both passion for their craft and the idea of femininity; and in the 19th the salons and art schools at last open their doors to a host of talented women artists, including Berthe Morisot, ushering in a new and resonant self-confidence. The modern period demolishes taboos: Alice Neel painting herself nude at eighty, Frida Kahlo rendering physical pain, Cindy Sherman exploring identity, Marlene Dumas dispensing with all boundaries. The full verve of Frances Borzello's enthralling text, and the hypnotic intensity of the accompanying self-portraits, is revealed to the full in this inspiring book.

'I wrote my thesis because it seemed incredible that a nineteenth century cleric could believe that paintings had the power to civilise his community of London's poorest. Yet that is what he did believe and his ideas were exported round the world. I still don't know whether he was right...' Frances Borzello What is the purpose of art? Aside from aesthetic considerations, does it have socio-political functions? Art critic Frances Borzello reflected on this in her doctoral thesis, later expanded for publication in 1987 as Civilising Caliban. Therein she traced a link between Victorian-era exhibitions mounted for Whitechapel's poor by Anglican vicar Samuel Barnett to the munificent post-war patronage of the Arts Council. In a new preface to this edition Borzello reflects on how the idea of 'art for all' has fared - along with the questions of who pays for it and what good it achieves.

Modelling is a boring, tiring, badly paid profession. Yet out of them we have created an image of a woman dressed only for seduction who probably sleeps with the artist, cooks for him, and inspires his best work. In ten chapters, the author covers various aspects of this much misunderstood activity.

Sensuous, voluptuous, provocative-the female form has inspired artists for centuries, making the female nude perhaps the most common subject in the history of painting. Oriented horizontally to effectively highlight the art, Reclining Nude is a feast for the senses, featuring 120 glorious masterpieces of the genre. Giorgiones catalyst Sleeping Venus, Titians unabashed Venus of Urbino, Manets Olympia gazing at the viewer, and Franois Bouchers flirtatious Brown-Haired Odalisque are but a few of the artworks to be admired afresh on these pages. Reclining Nude is a delightful gift and an inspiring study: a collection of art as stunning as the human forms within it.